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Camera Operator

"A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew."

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A camera operator, sometimes informally called a cameraman, is a professional operator of a film or video camera. In filmmaking, the person designing the lighting is the cinematographer or director of photography, who is also informally called a "cameraman" though it is a different job.

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"Important camera operator skills include choreographing and framing shots, knowledge of and the ability to select appropriate camera lenses, and other equipment (dollies, camera cranes, etc.) to portray dramatic scenes. The principles of dramatic story telling and film editing fundamentals are important skills as well. The camera operator is required to communicate clearly and concisely on sets where time and film budget constraints are ever present."

"In filmmaking, the cinematographer or director of photography (DP or DoP) is sometimes called lighting cameraman or first cameraman. The DP may operate the camera themselves, or enlist the aid of a camera operator or second cameraman to operate it or set the controls. The first assistant cameraman (1st AC), also known as a focus puller, is responsible for maintenance of the camera, such as clearing dirt from the film gate and adjusting the follow focus. A second assistant cameraman (2nd AC), also known as a clapper loader, might be employed to load film, slate scenes, or maintain the camera report"

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A camera operator, sometimes informally called a cameraman, is a professional operator of a film or video camera. In filmmaking, the person designing the lighting is the cinematographer or director of photography, who is also informally called a "cameraman" though it is a different job.

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According to zappa.com and the US census bureau, the main demographic of camera operator is white men. Men make up about 75 percent of camera operators with 69 percent being white. Women make up 21 percent of camera operator with the other 3 percent being unknown. Hispanic or Latino make up the second most common camera operators at 14.4 percent and black or African American being the third at 7.8 percent.

According to Emily Geraghty, a senior producer, camera operator, and editor for Condé Nast Entertainment, part of the difficulty for women becoming camera operators is that film programs that are designed to teach camera skills are male dominated which leads to an environment that is discouraging. This environment leads to women being pushed towards producing instead of hands on roles such as camera operator. Geraghty believes some of these attitudes towards women in these roles have progressed in recent years.

I did not find much on why camera operators tended to be white, I can say that camera operators tend to hold bachelors degrees from colleges, and the white population are statistically more likely to hold a bachelors degree than the African Americans or Latino/Hispanic population (according to the American Council on Education) which could be leading to some of the disparity we see. This is also coupled with the fact that the movie industry is significantly white in general, which can be discouraging for minorities.

other sources
https://www.zippia.com/studio-camera-operator-jobs/demographics/

https://www.equityinhighered.org/indicators/u-s-population-trends-and-educational-attainment/educational-attainment-by-race-and-ethnicity/

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I'm not alone in feeling this way; my female classmates had the same experience.

"The film program was definitely male dominated.... I always felt like I was sticking out like a sore thumb," Katlyn Minard, now a story producer for a production company in Los Angeles, told me. My classmate, Marie Houston, had a particularly scary anecdote: "I once experienced a group project where I was the only woman. Not only were my concerns dismissed...but they also did not tell me about a second shoot they did, and I had no idea that the footage even existed until we were watching edits in the class."

Was this because I went to a big state school in the South? Arianna LaPenne, who helped create Cinematographers XX, told me she believed many women had abandoned certain film programs because the environment wasn't "encouraging."

"I noticed that women seemed to end up being pushed toward producing and not the hands-on jobs on set," she said. "I also didn't know any other woman graduating [and] intending to be a DP. The one woman I had heard of who had was Rachel Morrison."

Since she graduated in 2004, however, Arianna told me she believes attitudes towards women cinematographers have progressed.

For me, the environment wasn't what I wanted. I didn't want to fight; I wanted to learn. After years of wanting to study film, I changed my major-focusing on theory instead of getting behind the camera.

I landed an internship before my last semester of college working on website maintenance for a TV channel in New York City. By a stroke of luck, they had just lost their full-time video editor, so I volunteered to edit press junket videos for them. Having only ever used iMovie, I figured out the software as I worked. And suddenly I was a professional video editor.

In the 1920s-the early days of the film industry-editing was actually considered women's work. It was low-paying and tedious, and many early film editors were young, working-class women. Sounds about right to me. Now, however, women make up only about 20 percent of the members of the Motion Picture Editors Guild.

I actually credit a large part of my success as a video editor to being female. I mostly worked on reality television and web videos that were aimed at women, and female editors are rare. Then there's the fact that I now know my freelance rate was incredibly low compared to what I should have been making.

Once I started freelance editing, however, I still saw a lot of the issues I'd experienced in film school. It bothered me that the women-centric content I was editing had been completely produced and directed by men. If I wanted to have any say over the content I was making before it hit my hard drive, I was going to have to create it myself. So this film school dropout bought a DSLR camera and signed up for a six-week course in shooting video.

"Sometimes I felt it was easier for my male counterparts to get what they wanted, but now I look back and see how much stronger and determined it made me."
- Samantha Sweet

Some of my professional colleagues had similar experiences. When I reached out to the women of The Video Consortium, the stories poured in. Kadri Koop, a freelance shooter, made a short film about being the only woman on set. "I've def also gotten the student thing," she told me. Julia Pitch felt same: "When it comes to work, the amount of times I have been asked if I am working on a student film is laughable.... I always have to give myself pep talks that I can be a freelance DP," she told me. Isabel Castro quit her job as a producer and enrolled in a cinematography intensive. Léa Khayata, who owns her own production company, joked about getting a hat that said "BOSS" so crew members wouldn't go to the men on set to get their questions answered.

Once I had a camera, I did everything I could to get ahead. I shot videos of myself dancing to Beyoncé in my bedroom just to make something. I asked my friends if I could make tiny documentary profiles about them on the weekends (they were bad, I can now admit). I rented bigger and better cameras on my own dime to learn how to work them, and interviewed for jobs where men grilled me on my technical prowess.

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This Is Why You Don't See More Women Behind the Camera

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A senior producer describes how, as a woman behind the camera, it can be easy to feel that the odds are stacked against you. 2018 is the first time a woman has ever been nominated for the Academy Award for cinematography, and a female director has taken home an Oscar just once.

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One of the things I learned is that if you are a camera operator you have to be flexible enough to be able to work in many different conditions. Some examples would be in remote places that are difficult to get in/out of, long days in the sun and heat, and physically challenging shoots that require lot of activity with a large heavy camera.

I also leaned how many choices and subsequently how much control the camera operator actually has. I thought the camera work was going to be more stringently directed by either the director or the cinematographer, which it certainly is, but now I realize that the camera operator has more control over the shots they get. An example is I am surprised that the camera operator can call for another take if they feel like they can get a better shot or angle, I had simply assumed the director would ask for another take if he didn’t like it and that the camera operator was lower on the totem pole of creative control in the production of a film.

This leads into the third point which is how good your communication has to be. Communicating with the cinematographer and the director is a larger part of the job than I imagined. This makes sense though as the camera operator has more control over some parts of shots than I realized.

One of the most important parts is to keep an eye on the edge of the frame and make sure nothing leaks in that isn’t supposed to be there. I had never thought of how much work and effort must be put into making sure none of the background of a set isn’t in frame. In my personal films I have had problems I haven’t had to worry so much about that because I was not filming on much of a set, but in an interview, they said if they pulled the camera three millimeters out you could see a lot of what was happening in the background.

How crucial relationships are to getting jobs as a camera operator. I knew that relationships played a part in getting a job in the film industry in general, but I didn’t realize that the relationships you build and being a easy person to work with are just as important as the skills you have as a camera operator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-RIbWMZN4w&ab_channel=NABShow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJxbV6H1MV0&ab_channel=BanffCentreforArtsandCreativity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ4VPyL_2UU&ab_channel=JoshHanes

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To whomever this may concern,

Hi my name is Jacob Hansfield and I am interested in shadowing you as a camera operator to learn the tools of the trade. I am familiar with cinematography and filmmaking techniques, and am curious as to how they apply to real filmmaking.

I have limited experience in making my own short films, and I have learned much from these experiences, but I lack much of the technical knowledge of cameras as I have only shot on my iPhone before. Being a camera operator interests me because through college I have become more aware of interesting camera work I have seen in films and have become inspired to learn more. I am also someone who like to be hands on and do physical work, which I have read can be a significant part of a camera operators job.

If I could learn anything for you I would like to understand the technical aspects of being a camera operator and what that entails. I would also like to gain a deeper understanding of how decisions are made and different departments work together during a film production.

Sincerely,
Jacob Hansfield

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There are a couple of ways to train to become a camera operator and gain necessary skills. One of the most common educational requirements is to hold a bachelors degree in film or television.

There is also the option of going to a camera operator course, which are offered by some colleges and other institutions that teach  camera operator specific knowledge.

Another option to build up knowledge and experience is to get an associates degree in television or film production.

One or more of these is a good start to help get a foot in the door as a camera operator. Camera operators are also often at least somewhat self taught in the ways that they use a camera, and shooting personal films is often a way one acquires general camera skills besides formal schooling. Experience with different camera angles, lenses and more are necessary skills that can be learned though trial and error on personal projects.

Generally camera operators start on smaller jobs such as student films and independent films. As they and progress their carriers by building up a reputation and their contacts, which can lead to roles on larger films.

https://www.careersinfilm.com/camera-operator/

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-become-camera-operator

https://study.com/articles/Camera_Operator_Certification_and_Training_Program_Information.html